My Random Thoughts

By Heather​​There are some medical conditions that make it difficult to lose weight, I actually have one of them. The most common medical conditions that could hold back or stall weight loss are:

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, PCOS – hormonal imbalance can prevent weight loss from occurring even if you eat very well and exercise regularly.

Diabetes – fear of suffering a sharp fall in blood sugar levels stops many diabetes sufferers from working out?

Heart conditions – fear of suffering heart failure stops many with a heart condition from exercising.

The solution?

PCOS

Even if you can’t see the results of your hard work on your scale, you will be fitter and definitely healthier if you exercise regularly. Importantly, at times your body will respond and your weight will fall. You might even notice an improvement in the regularity of your menstrual cycle.

Diabetes

The fear of fluctuations in blood sugar is very real. Before you start on an exercise programme speak to your doctor about what safety measures you can take. One obvious thing you can do is to take a friend along on any long jogs or cycles.

Heart conditions

Just like with the diabetes, speak to your doctor. Having a heart condition doesn’t mean you can’t exercise, quite the contrary, your heart needs some exercise to keep it strong and healthy.

Importantly, some people use their medical condition as an excuse not to bother, I certainly know I’ve done this at times, don’t do that. Take whatever precautions are necessary and get out there.

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy​

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy​

By Heather​If you ask your mechanic how you can improve the fuel efficiency of your car he’ll probably tell you something about accelerating and decelerating gently, idling your car less, changing your oil and oil filters regularly and getting regular maintenance; what he won’t tell you is that losing some weight could save you quite a bit too!

The more weight your car carries, the more fuel it uses up to get it moving.

​This is particularly a problem in the US where federal regulations require cars to go 54.5 miles for every gallon by 2025. Manufacturers are improving fuel efficiency by reducing the gizmos that come with the car, e.g. some are replacing the paperback manual with a USB instead etc.

Unfortunately, you can only reduce the content of a car by so much; one thing cannot be removed from the equation, the driver. With people getting heavier any effort to make cars lighter is eliminated: a zero sum game.

Cars.com and allstate.com linked up to produce the following infographic:

Source: al.com

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy​

I’ve noticed the price of food going steadily up. Even where the price looks the same the package is smaller, a smart little trick that manufacturers and supermarkets think we won’t notice. Lean meats, fresh fruit and vegetables food are more pricey than other varieties.

If you can afford the latest electronic gadgets, good food shouldn’t be unaffordable, that said there are many shopping tricks you can use.

1. Some fruit is much cheaper, go for that.

Berries, e.g. blueberries, strawberries and even grapes tend to be more expensive. Apples, oranges, tangerines and pears are much cheaper.

2. Frozen vegetables are cheaper but you don’t necessarily compromise on quality.

Apparently fresh vegetables can lose up to 45% of their nutrients by the time they reach the table. Importantly, if you’re buying from a supermarket that food isn’t as fresh as you might think. Picking, sorting, transporting and shelving means your “fresh vegetables” might have been picked 1 to 2 weeks earlier.

The nutrient content of anything that’s been harvested falls from that minute onwards. Frozen food is harvested, blanched and frozen immediately.

Examples of foods you can easily obtain frozen without compromising on taste include peas, edamame, corn, green beans, broccoli and spinach.

Carrots taste much better fresh and they’re generally not too expensive so I prefer to buy them fresh.

3. Shop at farmers’ markets

The food is fresh and cheaper because the middleman, the supermarket, has been cut out.

4. Don’t buy anything in a can or carton

Want a tomato sauce for a pasta? Then make it! It’s so easy. Here’s a recipe for you. Soups take a little longer to make but again, it’s much cheaper to make them than buy them.

5. Cut vegetables up yourself

This will save you a few pennies/cents. Even choosing the green beans that have been snipped at the end instead of the unsnipped variety leads to a large mark up on the product. The same applies to salads and other vegetables.

You CAN eat better for less, all you need to do is create a strategy for how you’ll do this.

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy​

This is definitely one thing you do not need to buy in a bottle. To make your own you will need:

1 tablespoon of oil or a bit of water

Seasoning (salt pepper and some dry mixed herbs)

1 Onion

2 chopped medium-sized tomatoes

A small or medium-sized carrot chopped

A hand full of fresh herbs, e.g. basil or parsely

Optional

A handful of mushrooms

Chopped bacon or chopped ham or one chopped sausage

You don't need this!

​Recipe

Sweat the onions in a bit of oil (or water) with the carrots. Add the seasoning.

If you’ll have mushrooms in your sauce, add them in with the onions and carrots.

Add the tomatoes then cover the pot up until the tomatoes become 'mushy' and soft.

If you want chopped bacon or ham in your sauce add them in when the tomatoes are soft.

When the sauce looks like it’s ready, throw in the fresh basil or parsley.

Finally, pour the sauce over your boiled pasta and it’s good to eat.

This should taste way better than anything you can get out of a can or bottle.

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy​

Very random but for as long as I can keep it up, I have decided to tweet everything that I eat on @FatCreepTM including the calories in it. At first, I thought I would only track the calories in meat and carbs but after calculating the calories in my morning tea, I’ll track everything!

A teaspoon of honey carries 11 to 12 grams, that’s 34 to 37 kcal, plus c.30 ml of semi-skimmed milk that brings it up to 50 kcal just in my morning tea!

This is definitely one thing I can compromise on sometimes. I love tea with milk and honey but obviously when I have a herbal tea it contains no calories.

There are probably many like me out there that don’t think about the calories in their morning tea. They weigh the bagel, the bread or the egg and ignore the tea.

The reason I switched to tea in the first place was because I loved to start the day with a 12 oz mocha, 170 kcal. A 16 oz mocha is 220 kcal. And for all you latte lovers, a skinny 12 oz latte is 90 kcal and a 16 oz is 110 kcal. That’s before you add any sugar or cream if you do!

The 50 kcal in my tea looks pretty good in comparison. However, 50 kcal per day equals 350 kcal a week or 3,500 (a pound of weight) every ten weeks. If I could successfully substitute my honey-milk-tea with a herbal tea I would lose 5 pounds over the year with that one change!

The moral of the story: next time you’re about to order a drink in a café or restaurant, don’t forget that it has calories too. If you’re tracking calories it has to be included

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy​

By Heather​I’m sure you’ve heard a friend or two complain about the cost of gym membership being prohibitive. It’s true, gyms are expensive, more so if money is already tight. Here are two solutions.​1. Don’t join a gym!

I’m not a gym member. I exercise outside and in my living room. I haven’t been a gym member since January 2012 and that hasn’t been a problem for my maintaining a stable weight.

On very cold days I wear three layers on my top half, a head scarf and even gloves to jog outside. And unless there’s snow or it’s raining cycling is tolerable even during winter.

For resistance training get a DVD or find a fitness channel and record your favourite fitness trainer. I recorded a few work outs on my TV so I haven’t spent a dime on DVDs.

2. Join a gym in a low income area

If you live in a ‘posh’ area the gyms will cost more, look at prices in neighbouring, lower income areas, you might be surprised. I know a gym near me that’s HALF the price of another gym just five minutes away.

How about getting a treadmill?

If you thinking buying a treadmill or exercise bike will, in the long run, be more cost-efficient than gym membership, make sure this is actually true.

I once bought a very expensive treadmill convinced I’d use it daily. As it turned out, I used it daily for about a week and then hardly ever after that. By the time I sold it 18 months later I’d used it less than 15 times! That’s ridiculous, I hear you say, I know but when I bought it I was 100% sure it would be given good use.

You’d think I learnt my lesson after that time but oh no, it took a few more similarly expensive experiments before I learnt my lesson. Now, I only own weights, a mat and a rubber balls. They were cheap so their lack of use doesn’t bother me too much.

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy​

By Heather​It's that time of the year when we start looking at our lives with a view to bettering ourselves. Getting into shape is normally at the top of most people's lists; to help you with that goal I have created a free ebook:

The Quick Guide to Sexy ~ Easy Ways to Lose Weight Without Dieting.

I know, I did it, look at me before: belly hanging and thighs chafing - I was still pretty though. And me now: toned tummy and even more toned arms.

Before (2010)

​After (2012)

This blog is inspired by last week's guest blogger's claim that suggested that running and walking burn the same calories per mile.

I love both activties since they are both very natural to me, especially the walking. Surprisingly, although I would always say I hate running, after a few years of reasonably consistent jogging I HAVE TO go: something inside of me just says, it's time to go jogging now, get your kit on. This week I added running at -4 degrees celsius to my list of ever increasing foolishness!

Why do people think running and walking burn the same number of calories per mile?

Because walking a mile and running a mile involves moving the same body weight over the same distance. It appears this type of thinking is elementary and researchers have quashed this type of thinking once and for all with some empirical analysis.

In a paper titled, "Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running" by researchers at Syracuse University, they looked at the calories burnt by 12 men and 12 women when they walked versus when they run over a distance of 1,600 metres (a mile).

The results:

The men burnt c.124 calories/mile when they run and 88 calories/mile walking

The women burnt c.105 calories/mile when they run and 74 calories/mile walking

Why do you burn more when you run?

You burn 5 calories for every litre of oxygen you consume/use up and running usually involves a higher requirement for and consumption of energy and hence oxygen.

Walking doesn't change your centre of gravity much because your legs are fairly straight and close to the ground; but running, on the other hand, normally involves lifting your leg quite high above the ground so more energy is needed to fight gravity

Overall therefore the more intense you make your work out and the more out of breath you get, the more you're burning. Indeed, as you get fitter you need to work harder and harder to get out of breath.

Why did the men in the experiment burn more than the women?

They weighed more and they generally have more muscles to power hence more oxygen is consumed.

A little formula for you:

Running

Walking

​Total Calories Burnt per Mile

.75 x your weight (in lbs.)

.53 x your weight (in lbs.)

​Net Calories Burnt per Mile*

.63 x your weight (in lbs.)

.30 x your weight (in lbs.)

​* Net calories account for the calories you would have burnt anyway if you were just sitting around.

Interestingly, you will enjoy a fitness advantage even before your body reaches your goal weight. For instance, although I'm chubbier than my husband he was annoyed to find that my resting heart rate and my blood pressure were both better than his. It's all the jogging I do, 10 km per week almost without fail will do that!

The above said, I can walk for two hours quite comfortably but I can only run for 35- 45 minutes before I've had enough especially when it's very hot or very cold so if you enjoy walking, keep walking, you're still burning more than you would do at rest.

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy​

You're more likely to stick to it in the long run because it's not too daunting, unlike running which is very easy to fall out of habit with as the thought of jogging for miles is more likely to put one off exercising and leave you reaching for the cheese/carrot cake instead.

Walking does less damage to your joints in the long term as it is considerably lower impact so you are less likely to need a zimmerframe when you're old and grey.

Back in school I used to look like a spitting image of Biggie Smalls until i discovered long walks. The flab just melted off - and the best bit: I can eat whatever I want and however much I want, as long as I compensate by walking more.

You're more likely to stick to the habit of walking if you fit it around the ordinary course of your life.

The hard bit:

I work in the city for an investment manager and live in streatham (8 miles away). To ensure I get my regular dose of waking, I walk home from work and have recently started walking to work as well, two hours each way. Although this may seem like too much of a hassle I can't recommend it enough and it actually sounds worse than it is. Friends who have joined me on my walks have always had the same feedback: "This isn't nearly as bad as it sounds."

The benefits are threefold:

I burn 2000 cals/day,

I save money on commuting into work, and

I gain valuable time to destress/engage in deep thought as I walk along

The really hard bit:

If I've had a particularly bad week of eating junk I make up for it at the weekends by cranking it up several notches: my standard weekend workout includes walking from my house to a place called Hooley (outside Croydon) and back (an 8 hours round trip or 4000 calories)

Give it a try-maybe not to the extremes I do but I promise you it works!!!!!!!!!

​Although your personal finances and your business success are my primary interest, I believe you only operate at peak efficiency when you're fit and healthy. If you feel good, it filters through to your work. To help you with that, click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy​